Garage-rock fanatics and obscure 45 collectors might know The Werps from their flaming, punctuation-challenged late-’60s nugget Loves A Fire. And they might have wondered if the long-lost New Jersey outfit ever recorded anything else. Well, wonder no more. This nine-track EP collects the entirety of their known catalogue, which basically consists of three different versions of Loves a Fire, some variations on the smouldering B-side Shades of Blue — because hey, why write new songs when you can just rewrite the old ones? — and a couple of instantly forgettable leftovers. Not exactly the most impressive of rock legacies, but better than nothing, I guess. Now, just one burning question remains: What the hell is a werp?
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Recorded in a strip mall barbershop in New Jersey in 1967, the mysterious Werps — Clark McAvoy, James Serenko, John Matzko, and a long forgotten “Paul” on drums — cut their garage-punk ripper Loves A Fire for Eugene Viscione’s WGW imprint and promptly disappeared. In addition to the flip Shades of Blue and Voodoo Doll (which recently appeared on our Louis Wayne Moody High LP), The Werps laid down the instrumental Car Hop and three alternate takes on Fire. Horns, no horns, slow, fast… Geno and the boys tried ‘em all, with varying degrees of success. A fascinating portrait of a band trying to figure their shit out with the clock running, Shades of Blue collects almost every known minute of tape The Werps every squealed, stomped, or screamed over.”
